Cost-Effective Production of L-DOPA by Tyrosinase-Immobilized Polyhydroxyalkanoate Nanogranules in Engineered Halomonas bluephagenesis TD01

The halo of future bio-industry based on engineering Halomonas

The utilization of microorganisms to transform biomass into biofuels and biochemicals presents a viable and competitive alternative to conventional petroleum refining processes. Halomonas species are salt-tolerant and alkaliphilic, endowed with various beneficial properties rendering them as contamination resistant platforms for industrial biotechnology, facilitating the commercial-scale production of valuable bioproducts. Here we summarized the metabolic and genomic engineering approaches, as well as the biochemical products synthesized by Halomonas. Methods were presented for expanding substrates utilization in Halomonas to enhance its capabilities as a robust workhorse for bioproducts. In addition, we briefly reviewed the Next Generation Industrial Biotechnology (NGIB) based on Halomonas for open and continuous fermentation. In particular, we proposed the industrial attempts from Halomonas chassis and the rising prospects and essential strategies to enable the successful development of Halomonas as microbial NGIB manufacturing platforms.

Production and Bioseparation Applications of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Nano-Granules Functionalized with Streptavidin

Rapidly growing industrial biotechnology and bio-manufacturing require simple and cost-effective bioseparation tools. A novel strategy of bioseparation based on the streptavidin-decorated polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) nano-granules was developed in this study. By fusing to the N-terminus of PHA-associated phasin protein, the streptavidin was one-step immobilized on the surface of PHA nano-granules simultaneously with the accumulation of PHA in recombinant Escherichia coli. About 1.95 g/L of PHA nano-granules (54.51 wt% of cell dry weight) were produced after 48 h bacterial cultivation. The following qualitative and quantitative characterizations demonstrated that the streptavidin accounted for approximately 6.78% of the total weight of the purified PHA nano-granules and confirmed a considerable biotin affinity of 0.1 ng biotin/μg surface protein. As a proof of concept, the nano-granules were further functionalized with biotinylated oligo(dT) for mRNA isolation and about 1.26 μg of mRNA (occupied 2.59%) was purified from 48.45 μg of total RNA, achieving good integrity and high purity with few DNA and rRNA contaminations. Moreover, the nano-granules retained more than 80% of their initial mRNA recovery efficiency after ten cycles of repeated use. The PHA-SAP nano-granules were also functionalized with biotinylated magnetic beads, allowing magnetic recovery of the PHA nano-granules from cell lysates that still needs optimization. Our study provides a novel and expandable platform of PHA nano-granules that can be further functionalized with various biological groups for bioseparation applications. The functional PHA nano-granules have a great potential to serve as bioseparation resin for large-scale purification processes after suitable optimizations for "bench-to-factory" translation, contributing to scalable and sustainable bioprocessing.

Nonsterile microbial production of chemicals based on Halomonas spp

The use of extremophile organisms such as Halomomas spp. can eliminate the need for fermentation sterilization, significantly reducing process costs. Microbial fermentation is considered a pivotal strategy to reduce reliance on fossil fuel resources; however, sustainable processes continue to incur higher costs than their chemical industry counterparts. Most organisms require equipment sterilization to prevent contamination, a practice that introduces complexity and financial strain. Fermentations involving extremophile organisms can eliminate the sterilization process, relying instead on conditions that are conductive solely to the growth of the desired organism. This review discusses current challenges in pilot- and industrial-scale bioproduction when using the extremophile bacteria Halomomas spp. under nonsterile conditions.

Metabolic engineering of Halomonas bluephagenesis for production of five carbon molecular chemicals derived from L-lysine

5-Aminovaleric acid (5-AVA), 5-hydroxyvalerate (5HV), copolymer P(3HB-co-5HV) of 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 5HV were produced from L-lysine as a substrate by recombinant Halomonas bluephagenesis constructed based on codon optimization, deletions of competitive pathway and L-lysine export protein, and three copies of davBA genes encoding L-lysine monooxygenase (DavB) and 5-aminovaleramide amidohydrolase (DavA) inserted into its genome to form H. bluephagenesis YF117ΔgabT1+2, which produced 16.4 g L-1 and 67.4 g L-1 5-AVA in flask cultures and in 7 L bioreactor, respectively. It was able to de novo synthesize 5-AVA from glucose by L-lysine-overproducing H. bluephagenesis TD226. Corn steep liquor was used instead of yeast extract for cost reduction during the 5-AVA production. Using promoter engineering based on Pporin mutant library for downstream genes, H. bluephagenesis YF117 harboring pSEVA341-Pporin42-yqhDEC produced 6 g L-1 5HV in shake flask growth, while H. bluephagenesis YF117 harboring pSEVA341-Pporin42-yqhDEC-Pporin278-phaCRE-abfT synthesized 42 wt% P(3HB-co-4.8 mol% 5HV) under the same condition. Thus, H. bluephagenesis was successfully engineered to produce 5-AVA and 5HV in supernatant and intracellular P(3HB-co-5HV) utilizing L-lysine as the substrate.

Spherical porous iron-nitrogen-carbon nanozymes derived from a tannin coordination framework for the preparation of L-DOPA by emulating tyrosine hydroxylase

L-3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) is widely used in Parkinson's disease treatment and is therefore in high demand. Development of an efficient method for the production of L-DOPA is urgently required. Nanozymes emulating tyrosine hydroxylase have attracted enormous attention for biomimetic synthesis of L-DOPA, but suffered from heterogeneity. Herein, a spherical porous iron-nitrogen-carbon nanozyme was developed for production of L-DOPA. Tannic acid chelated with ferrous ions to form a tannin-iron coordination framework as a carbon precursor. Iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon nanospheres were assembled via an evaporation-induced self-assembly process using urea as a nitrogen source, F127 as a soft template, and formaldehyde as a crosslinker. The nanozyme was obtained after carbonization and acid etching. The nanozyme possessed a dispersive iron atom anchored in the Fe-N coordination structure as an active site to mimic the active center of tyrosine hydroxylase. The material showed spherical morphology, uniform size, high specific surface area, a mesoporous structure and easy magnetic separation. The structural properties could promote the density and accessibility of active sites and facilitate mass transport and electron transfer. The nanozyme exhibited high activity to catalyze the hydroxylation of tyrosine to L-DOPA as tyrosine hydroxylase in the presence of ascorbic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The titer of DOPA reached 1.2 mM. The nanozyme showed good reusability and comparable enzyme kinetics to tyrosine hydroxylase with a Michaelis-Menten constant of 2.3 mM. The major active species was the hydroxyl radical. Biomimetic simulation of tyrosine hydroxylase using a nanozyme with a fine structure provided a new route for the efficient production of L-DOPA.

Economical synthesis of γ-cyclodextrin catalyzed by oriented cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase displayed on bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate nanogranules

BACKGROUND

The advantages of γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) include its high solubility, ability to form inclusion complexes with various poorly water-soluble molecules, and favorable toxicological profile; thus, γ-CD is an attractive functional excipient widely used in many industrial settings. Unfortunately, the high cost of γ-CD caused by the low activity and stability of γ-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (γ-CGTase) has hampered large-scale production and application.

RESULTS

This study reports the in vivo one-step production of immobilized γ-CGTase decorated on the surface of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) nanogranules by the N-terminal fusion of γ-CGTase to PHA synthase via a designed linker. The immobilized γ-CGTase-PHA nanogranules showed outstanding cyclization activity of 61.25 ± 3.94 U/mg (γ-CGTase protein) and hydrolysis activity of 36,273.99 ± 1892.49 U/mg, 44.74% and 18.83% higher than that of free γ-CGTase, respectively. The nanogranules also exhibited wider optimal pH (cyclization activity 7.0-9.0, hydrolysis activity 10.0-11.0) and temperature (55-60 °C) ranges and remarkable thermo- and pH-stability, expanding its utility to adapt to wider and more severe reaction conditions than the free enzyme. A high yield of CDs (22.73%) converted from starch and a high ratio (90.86%) of γ-CD in the catalysate were achieved at pH 9.0 and 50 °C for 10 h with 1 mmol/L K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ added to the reaction system. Moreover, γ-CGTase-PHA beads can be used at least eight times, retaining 82.04% of its initial hydrolysis activity and 75.73% of its initial cyclization activity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a promising nanobiocatalyst for the cost-efficient production of γ-CD, which could greatly facilitate process control and economize the production cost.

Metabolic engineering of Halomonas bluephagenesis for high-level mevalonate production from glucose and acetate mixture

Mevalonate (MVA) plays a crucial role as a building block for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids. In this study, we engineered Halomonas bluephagenesis to efficiently produce MVA. Firstly, by screening MVA synthetases from eight different species, the two efficient candidate modules, specifically NADPH-dependent mvaESEfa from Enterococcus faecalis and NADH-dependent mvaESLca from Lactobacillus casei, were integrated into the chromosome, leading to the construction of the H. bluephagenesis MVA11. Through the synergetic utilization of glucose and acetate as mixed carbon sources, MVA11 produced 11.2 g/L MVA with a yield of 0.45 g/g (glucose + acetic acid) in the shake flask. Subsequently, 10 beneficial genes out of 50 targets that could promote MVA production were identified using CRISPR interference. The simultaneous repression of rpoN (encoding RNA polymerase sigma-54 factor) and IldD (encoding L-lactate dehydrogenase) increased MVA titer (13.3 g/L) by 19.23% and yield (0.53 g/g (glucose + acetic acid)) by 17.78%, respectively. Furthermore, introducing the non-oxidative glycolysis (NOG) pathway into MVA11 enhanced MVA yield by 12.20%. Ultimately, by combining these strategies, the resultant H. bluephagenesis MVA13/pli-63 produced 13.9 g/L MVA in the shake flask, and the yield increased to 0.56 g/g (glucose + acetic acid), which was the highest reported so far. Under open fed-batch fermentation conditions, H. bluephagenesis MVA13/pli-63 produced 121 g/L of MVA with a yield of 0.42 g/g (glucose + acetic acid), representing the highest reported titer and yield in the bioreactor to date. This study demonstrates that H. bluephagenesis is one of the most favorable chassis for MVA production.

Development and Application of Transcription Terminators for Polyhydroxylkanoates Production in Halophilic Halomonas bluephagenesis TD01

Halomonas bluephagenesis TD01 is one of the ideal chassis for low-cost industrial production based on “Next Generation Industrial Biotechnology,” yet the limited genetically regulatory parts such as transcriptional terminators, which are crucial for tuned regulations on gene expression, have hampered the engineering and applications of the strain. In this study, a series of intrinsic Rho-independent terminators were developed by either genome mining or rational design, and seven of them proved to exhibit higher efficiencies than the canonical strong T7 terminator, among which three terminators displayed high efficiencies over 90%. A preliminary modeling on the sequence-efficiency relationship of the terminators suggested that the poly U sequence regularity, the length and GC content of the stem, and the number and the size of hairpin loops remarkably affected the termination efficiency (TE). The rational and de novo designs of novel synthetic terminators based on the sequence-efficiency relationship and the “main contributor” engineering strategy proved to be effective, and fine-tuned polyhydroxylkanoates production was also achieved by the regulation of these native or synthetic terminators with different efficiencies. Furthermore, a perfectly positive correlation between the promoter activity and the TE was revealed in our study. The study enriches our knowledge of transcriptional termination via its sequence–strength relationship and enables the precise regulation of gene expression and PHA synthesis by intrinsic terminators, contributing to the extensive applications of H. bluephagenesis TD01 in the low-cost production of various chemicals.